My advice to you, and the poster of the root node is to "protect your $#@%@". (to the root node author, that's if you do convince your employer to allow you to use CPAN ;-) ) This means a couple things that people have already said as well as a couple more unique sugestions:

Check http://testers.cpan.org, but don't take it to be the perfect. Take notice of whether the failures apply to you (meaning check whether the failures are platform specific, dependency problems, etc.)

Registered modules seem to be more reliable/better tested than unregistered modules.

They also provide a DLSIP definition that can be very helpful in assessing the viability of the module. This is key to me; the most important things about it are the support level, and developmental stage.

Check around with fellow perl coders. See if any of them have ever had trouble with the code.

Check the version of the code (duh). 0.0x generally means something is beta or incomplete, treat it as such.

Install the module on your/your companies test box, and test it. Don't only use their test software, do further regression testing, test the code in the environment you'll use it in (what will you use it for? )

If you still can't discern the credibility, email the author, and ask them if they have to 'fix' anything for the next version of the software.

Check the author's credibility. Damian, Lincoln, etc. provide an instant credibility because their name is on their code. They can't publish crap because then their name value goes down. On the other hand, if you're using a module by a fool like me, you might want to think twice about putting it an environment where your job is on the line. { grin }